Trump: 'Revolution' could begin tonight

“Hopefully tonight we’re going to have the beginning of what is going to be in a certain way a very positive revolution,” said the businessman here on the morning of caucus day, in anticipation of Monday nights results.

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Trump opened his closing argument to Iowans here by going after Ted Cruz.

“He’s financed by oil people, and the oil people don’t want ethanol,” said Trump at the outset of his speech. He predicted that if Cruz were elected president, the ethanol industry would meet its demise in “six months to a year.” Trump circled back to Cruz later in the speech, saying, “He’s a good debater but he’s a bad talker. Does that make sense?”

Attendance at the rally sparse: A third of the several hundred chairs in the convention center space sat empty. Trump expressed optimism that a winter storm heading towards Iowa would not arrive in time to depress turnout. By morning, a thick fog had settled over this part of central Iowa.

If Trump was tempting fate by coming to this city — the namesake of the Belgian town where a seemingly indomitable Napoleon Bonaparte was routed by the Duke of Wellington in 1815 — he showed little anxiety. "Win, lose or draw, I love you all," he told the crowd.

Trump is scheduled to appear Monday afternoon in Cedar Rapids with Sarah Palin.